Self-leveling device



May 7, 1968 H. H. ROTHSCHILD SELF-LEVELING DEVICE 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 FiledJuly 21, 1967 INVENTOR Henry HROThSChild yfi i:

ATTORNEYS.

May 7, 1968 H. H, ROTHSCHILD SELF-LEVELING DEVICE 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 FiledJuly 21, 1967 FIG?) l/VVENTOR. Henrj H-Roiksc/ukl ATTORNEYS.

May 7, 1968 Filed July 21, 1967 H. H. ROTHSCHILD SELF-LEVELING DEVICEFIG. 5

5 Sheets-Sheet 3 H n r y H. Rothschdd ATTORNEYS.

United States Patent 3,381,634 SELF-LEVELING DEVICE Henry H. Rothschild,Teaneck, N.J., assignor to Caddy Corporation of America, Secaucus, N.J.,a corporation of New Jersey Filed July 21, 1967, Ser. No. 655,107 8Claims. (Cl. 108-436) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The invention relatesto a self-leveling storing and/or dispensing platform relying on coilspring compensation for changes in weight in which all of theself-leveling mechanism is held within the platform structure.

This invention relates to a storing and/or dispensing device of the typewhich employs coil springs for cornpensating for changes in weightsupported by the platform.

Many forms of self-leveling devices of the type which employ coilsprings to compensate or balance the changes in weight applied to thesupporting platforms of the devices, are known in the art. Insubstantially all of such devices, the springs and their compensatingmechanisms form a structure which is built into an auxiliary part of thedevice which is more or less separated from the platform itself. Mostfrequently the balancing mechanism for such devices are built into ahousing that extends perpendicularly to the plane of the platform whichmultiplies the bulkiness of the assembled device for shipping, forexample, or which if shipped unassembled requires expert mechanicalskill to assemble when it reaches its destination. Such devices whenencumbered by the auxiliary mechanisms require additional space whenbeing built into a complex unit such as a section of a serving counteror refrigerated compartment for example.

This invention is based on the discovery that it is possible to devise aself-leveling platform that is substantially complete in itself in thatit includes a chassis which contains all the self-leveling mechanism andonly requires that the ends of the supporting cables thereof (whichextend outside the platform) be secured to suitable spaced stationarysupports. Thus, the cables can be attached to a frame, to a pair ofcantilever brackets, to the upper end portions of two spaced tables,etc. All that is necessary to install the platform is to firmly securethe cable ends to a pair of supports which are suitably spaced toaccommodate the platform and of suitable height to allow the platform tolower itself the desired distance. The supporting arms of the platformdo not even need to be of the same height since differences in heightcan be compensated by extending the points of attachment of therespective cables.

Among the objects of the invention, therefore, is to provide aself-leveling device comprising a chassis which supports the platformand includes all of the self-leveling mechanism.

Among other objects of the invention is to provide a self-levelingdevice which does not require a specially built stand ormechanism-containing frame for installation therewith.

Among other objects of the invention is to provide a self-levelingdevice wherein the self-leveling mechanism and platform are compactlyarranged so that the mechanism can all be included within a chassis orhousing se- 3,381,634 Patented May 7, 1968 cured to the platform, theentire device not being much larger than a conventional platform.

The objects of the invention are attained by providing the support forthe platform or supporting plate of the self-leveling dispenser with achassis, by arranging for the lengths of supporting cables necessaryforlowering of the platform to be wound on a plural grooved wheel rotatablymounted on a vertical axis within said chassis, and by providing meansincluding coil springs which are adapted to resist and/or reverse therotation of said grooved wheel depending on the load applied to theplatform.

The platform and its chassis with one end of each supporting cableextending outside of the chassis can be employed as a self-levelingdevice merely by securing the ends of the supporting cable to a pair ofsuitable spaced supports which provide space for the downward movementof the platform therebetween. In one respect, therefore, the platformand its chassis provides a complete item. However, it is also frequentlydesirable to provide a frame or housing for supporting the platformespecially where the dispenser is not being built into an assembly bydiiferent units such as a continuous counter for a cafeteria, forexample.

Preferably at least three or four supporting cables are provided and thecables are so positioned as to balance two opposite sides of the chassisand platform when the latter are rectangular in shape. For other shapes,the number of cables can be arranged to be suitable for the particularshape.

Means are provided to guide each of the cables from outside of thechassis into its particular groove in the plural-grooved wheel and lowfriction devices such as ballbearing mounted pulleys are verysatisfactory for this purpose.

Other and more detailed objects and advantages of the present inventionwill become apparent from the following specification and appendedclaims when read in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a self-leveling device made according tothe invention installed in a very simple frame and partially depressedto show how it is supported.

FIG. 1A is a detail view illustrating a method of attaching a cable to asupport.

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the interior of the chassis of the devicewithout the cover plate.

FIG. 3 is a view similar to FIG. 2, but with portions of the springsremoved.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional View taken on line 4-4 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view taken on line 5-5 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 6 is a detail cross-sectional view taken in line 66 of FIG. 2.

In the device illustrated, the chassis 1t and its platform 11 arerectangular in shape but it will be under stood that it can take anyform that is suitable for the material being dispensed. Thus it may beround, oval, polygonal, elliptical, semi-elliptical, etc. As shown inFIG. 1, the chassis 10 shown is supported for vertical movement by 4flexible cables 12, 13, 14, 1.5, one end of each cable extending outsidethe chassis and being attached beneath the top 17 of the frame 16 bysuitable means such as the loops 18 formed in the end of the cable andsecured to the frame 16 by means of bolts 19 and nuts 20 as shown inFIG. 1A. All of the mechanism for lifting the chassis and platform asthe load is de- Q creased or lowering the same when the load isincreased is contained within the chassis 111. Since the only purpose ofthe frame 16 is to secure the ends of cables 18-20, it is obvious thatvarious conventional types of supports .such as a pair of cantileverbrackets, the ends of two spaced tables, etc., may be substituted forthe frame 16 and that the means for securing the ends of the cables tothe supports therefor may also take various forms.

As better shown in FIG. 2, each of the cables 12, 13, 14 and 15 isguided into the chassis by a pulley 22, 23, 24, 25, respectively. Eachof the cables 12-15 passes to a particular one of the grooves or sheavesof the four grooved wheel 30 (see FIGS. 4 and 5). As shown in FIG. 2,cables 12 and 14 pass directly to the lower grooves 31 and 32respectively whereas, cables 13 and 15 have their direction changed bypulleys 26 and 27, respectively before passing to their respectivegrooves 33 and 34. The inner end 12-1, 13-1, 14-1, 15-1 of each cable12-15 passes through a hole 12-2, 13-2, 14-2, 15-2 in the rim of thewheel 30 and is secured to a holding means 1 -3, 13-3, 14-3, 15-3, eachprojecting from one of the spokes of the wheel 30. The wheel 30 ismounted for rotation on axle 35 (see FIG. 4) which in turn is securedbetween the bottom 9 of casing and a cross piece 28 extending across theupper portion of the casing.

The wheel 31] includes a block or drum portion 36 extending upwardlyfrom the grooved or sheaved portion and said drum portion 36 contains apair of grooves 37 and 38 and means (not shown) for fixing a pair ofcables therein. Thus, the cablcs 4t 41 may have their ends secured inthe grooves 37 and 38, respectively. The attached ends of cables 41), 41may also be connected whereby it is only necessary to attach the pair ofcables at one point to the drum 36. The cables 41) and 41, respectively,pass from said drum 36 over pulleys 42 and 43, respectively (see FIG. 6)thence to pulleys 44 and 45, respectively (to reverse their direction),and finally have their ends 46 and 47 secured to the angled portions 51and 51, respectively, of the floating cross bar 50. As shown in FIG. 2,3 pairs of coil tension springs 53-53, 54-54 and 55-55 have one endattached to the angled portions 51, 51. It is known in this art toemploy calibrated springs as the weight compensating devices, thecalibration of the springs depending on the weight of the objects beingdispensed. A considerable variation in the load-supportingcharacteristics of this device can also be obtained by omitting one ortwo pairs of said springs. The opposite ends of spring pairs 53-53,54-54 and 55-55 are secured to the angle 56 which is fixed by welding,for example, to a side 57 of the chassis 10. The pulleys 42, 43, 44 and45 as shown in FIGS. 2 and 6 are rotatably mounted in brackets 66, 67and 63 held in a U-section 52 which is secured to a side of the casing10.

The top or platform 11 of the casing is constructed to cover and be heldon the inwardly projecting edges 57, 57', 58, 53 (see FIG. 2) of therasing 10.

In operation, the device is attached to a suitable support such as frame16 of FIG. 1 by securing the ends of cables 12-15 which extend outsideof the casing 10 to the upper supporting surface 17. The ends of saidcables 12-15 are obviously secured at points thereon such as make thecasing substantially level. When a load is applied to the top of theplatform regardless of whether it is centrally positioned or not, all ofthe cables will be released an equal amount and the casing and platformwill be lowered to various levels 66 (see FIG. 1) depending on thecalibration of the pairs of springs 53-53, 54-54 and/or 55-55'.

The features and principles underlying the invention described above inconnection with specific exemplifications will suggest to those skilledin the art many other modifications thereof. It is accordingly desiredthat the appended claims shall not be limited to any specific feature ordetails thereof.

I claim:

1. As a self-leveling storing and dispensing platform containing theself-leveling mechanism within the platform structure comprising asubstantially horizontal top plate providing the supporting surface forthe material to be stored or dispensed,

a chassis extending below the top plate and adapted to support the topplate and the self-leveling mechanism, said chassis having sides ofrelatively short depth and a base so that the self-leveling mechanismcan be supported between said base and the top plate,

said self-leveling mechanism comprising a pluralgrooved wheel positionedsubstantially centrally within said chassis with its axis substantiallyat right angles with respect to the plane of the top plate,

axle means on said plural-grooved wheel and means for rotatablysupporting said axle in a substantially vertical position within saidchassis,

said plural-grooved wheel having a block concentrically attached theretowhereby rotation of the pluralgrooved wheel produces the same angularrotation of the block,

at least one cable having one end thereof secured to said block,

a plurality of supporting cables each having an outer end extending onthe outside of said chassis and inner ends extending into the chassisand at least partially around one of the grooves of the plural-groovedwheel, low-friction guide means in said chassis for guiding each cableinto its particular groove of the plural-grooved wheel,

means for securing the inner ends of each of said cables to theplural-grooved wheel, whereby pulling of the cables outwardly withrespect to said chassis rotates said plural-grooved wheel,

coil spring means having one end thereof which is fixed with respect tosaid chassis,

means connecting the cable of said block to the other end of said springmeans in such a way that rotation of said plural-grooved wheel bypulling on the cables attached thereto, winds up the cable of the blockin a direction that is resisted by the elasticity of said coil springmeans.

2. The self-leveling, storing and dispensing device as claimed in claim1 wherein said block is of smaller diameter than the diameter of saidplural-grooved wheel.

3. The self-leveling, storing and dispensing device as claimed in claim1 wherein the low friction guide means for guiding the cables of saidplural-grooved wheel comprise pulleys.

4. The self-leveling, storing and dispensing device as claimed in claim1 wherein said block has said cable attached thereto so as to providetwo cable ends extending therefrom,

said coil spring means comprising at least one pair of matched coilsprings,

said means connecting the cables of said block to the coil springscomprising a floating cross bar, the two cable ends extending from theblock being attached to opposite balanced portions of the floating crossbar,

and pulley means for guiding the cables from said block to the floatingcross bar to provide a balanced pull on the floating cross bar.

5. The self-leveling, storing and dispensing device as claimed in claim1 wherein said plural-grooved wheel has four grooves, and wherein fourcables extend from the chassis for attaching to a supporting means.

6. The self-leveling, storing and dispensing device as claimed in claim4 wherein said plural-grooved wheel is rotatably mounted close to thebase of said chassis with the block portion thereof extending toward thetop plate having an upper portion and a central open portion of 5 a sizeto permit up and down movement of the chassis, and means to fix theouter ends of the supporting cables to said frame.

8. The self-leveling, storing and dispensing device as claimed in claim1 in combination with a pair of cantilever brackets, means on saidcantilever brackets to fix the outer ends of the supporting cables tosaid arms.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS Boekius 108-436 Harrison 108-136XR Korngold et a1 108136 Bronson 108136 Vaught 108-136 XR Maslow 10813610 BOBBY R. GAY, Primary Examiner.

GLENN FINCH, Assistant Examiner.

